Housebuyers UK company

Yellowbelly4

Thank you.I thought nobody would still be viewing this thread.I have a letter from them stating their offer,to which I had to respond within so many days( I did) .I also have the latest letter which told me to write again requesting a refund of the survey fee as they were unable to go ahead with the purchase because of their financial difficulties.Also all the e-mails which I sent and received,I have saved.
Their advert was certainly misleading as it clearly stated they would use an independant surveyor.They actually used the same one all the time,from Essex.
The reason I contacted them in the first place was because a friend saw one of their "Sold" boards outside a local property.She actually knocked on the door and spoke to the owner,who was delighted with the whole Housebuyersuk system. Whether the sale actually went through to completion,I cannot say as the property owner moved out and different agent's board was erected, all within a very short space of time.
It appears that my solicitor has been dealing with several other clients who are in the same situation as myself with housebuyers,so she knows the score.
The problem is, who do I contact to expose this scam,or at least try and discover if anyone is looking into their dealings.
Let's face it,it is a fraud when I have accepted their offer and they are obviously in breach of contract.

Tassotti

Looks like they've shut up shop..check their website

http://www.housebuyersuk.com/

Companies like this are a major scam.

However, there are many decent companies that do offer this service and are upfront and straightforward with you.

They will generally offer about 20-30% below market value in exchange for a quick hassle free sale. Some will pay all legal costs, survey fees and all other costs.

The seller should NEVER have to pay for a survey (well not yet anyway). I feel sorry for the OP, but this should have rung alarm bells.

Anyway, good luck with this.

Is the property still for sale? If it is, I can get you quick cash for it. PM me if you like

Tass

Yellowbelly4

I have today received a leter from them,very apologetic(!) stating that everyone who paid for a survey will be reimbursed eventually,as and when funds are available, starting with the people who have been waiting longest.It states that the office has closed and gives the home address of the managing director.I suppose it is just possible that they were genuine and have overstretched themselves to the point of bankruptcy.Time will tell.In the meantime I will explore all avenues available to get my money back asap.
My property is still for sale although I have a buyer who keeps being let down by the dreaded chain, so I may have to be patient for a while.

davec93

Hello Yellowbelly4,

I have been out of the country (again) for a while so missed your original posting but glad to see that Rozeepozee was still watching the thread. Sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience with HousebuyersUK even after accepting their offer - ours was £40k below a reasonable selling price and over £45k less than 3 estate agents 'marketing' price (which we did not expect to get). From your username I guess that you are in Lincolnshire, as I am and as was/is Pentaqua who started this thread and prompted me to relate my personal experience with HousebuyersUK. I reported their misleading website advertising to the Advertising Standards Authority (as per post #25) - with evidence - but heard nothing from them; however, the Lincs FM radio station did stop playing their advert.

They can claim that their surveyors are independent because they are not part of the company even though they use the same ones every time. They actually pointed out this on their website.

As Watchdog has already covered a similar story with a different company, mentioned earlier in this thread, I doubt that they will cover the story, especially as the company has now ceased trading.

Good luck with the sale of your property, ours is still not sold although, again, we are in the final stages of completion - 'chain' problems!!! I hope that you eventually get your survey fees reimbursed.

robwend

by the way housebuyers have been in news and watch dog, the trick its the high price survey you pay up front, the the 30%plus lower market price offer, on that basis they have just made a nice tidy lump from you off your over priced survey. its also a very old trick

Yellowbelly4

Thanks everybody.We never thought that we would be conned by such devious b******s.The only reason we gave them a try was because somebody in our area had apparantly sold to them. It subsequently turned out that the deal was never completed.I never let these b******s rest so I will persue them for as long as it takes.Thanks again,it won't happen again!

rozeepozee

I'm really sorry to hear you've been ripped off. Good luck with getting your money back.

robwend

i sent them a email saying how lovley they are<not >my real email of course,<not> god im bored lol

taliwillow

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with housebuyers. Just thought I would let you know about a company we are selling to who have been fantastic and it has not cost us a penny. The company is called keys Property. I think they are a uk wide company. The MD of the company lives in our area so she came over a day after we e-mailed our details and gave us an offer on the house that was roughly 10% lower than we would have expected to get on the normal market for it. We couldn't accept that offer as we owed more on the mortgage so she agreed to up the offer to what we owed. They paid the survey fees on the house, they are paying the legal fees for us to sell the house to them and they also gave us a deposit of £500 on exchange to cover the deposit we had to put down on our new house as it's a new build. They are also allowing us to complete with them this month and then we will rent the house back from them (for a lower price than we are paying for our mortgage) until our house is finished so not all these companies are bad!

Hope this helps.

Taliwillow

Yellowbelly4

Thanks very much for that information.I may well give them a try.